Getting physicians involved in patient safety. A team approach.

An evidence-based team training program can get physicians--and everyone else--in your organization to adopt and maintain a culture of patient safety.

Disclosing unexpected outcomes and medical error.

Health-care professionals have a responsibility to communicate honestly and empathetically with patients and families when there has been a disappointing outcome in care. They need to understand how all parties think about, feel, and react to the situation. It is too easy for health-care providers and patients and their families to feel that their interests are no longer aligned and to have expectations go unmet.

Patient-physician communication as organizational innovation in the managed care setting.

Despite changes in the healthcare system, the relationship between patients and physicians remains fundamental to high-quality care. Managed care rules and restrictions, such as constraints on choice of providers, review processes, and decreasing length of visits, are creating potential conflicts between patients and their physicians. To strengthen the patient-physician relationship, some managed care organizations are implementing communication skills training for physicians.